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10 things you can still do in Palo Alto (while keeping your social distance)

Original post made
on Mar 27, 2020

Despite the loss of routine, social contact and freedom to get around because of the stay-at-home order, there are still options for things to do in Palo Alto other than binge-watching Netflix and taking the dog for another walk.

Posted by Resident
a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Mar 27, 2020 at 9:13 am

The first suggestion about getting outside for some exercise is getting more difficult particularly now with the closure of the parking lots at 3 large parks.

I have been in neighborhood parks. They are getting very busy at certain times as everyone seems to want to go there at the same time of day. I have seen families with young children on trikes or scooters taking space on park paths as joggers try to pass or seniors strolling in the opposite direction to dog walkers on extended leashes, all seem to meet at the same point. Yes, everyone is doing their best to stay apart but the volume of people with no "one way" system or groups making "road blocks" for others who want to get by quicker, means that social distancing is difficult.

The larger parks can cope better with larger numbers of people. Things like blocking off every other parking spot, and allowing only certain people in at certain times - possibly by last name initial or license plates odd or even, or times of the day, am and pm, could be handled much better than closing off the space altogether.

An early morning hike, 8.00 am at Foothills Park or Baylands means that you are very unlikely to meet a crowd of people. A neighborhood park at 3.00 pm any sunny afternoon means you will meet a crowd of people doing the same thing in many different ways.

Please give us back our opportunity to hike in the larger parks, yes give us some guidelines, restrictions and perhaps a sign up for reservations at different times of day, and I think you will find that we will all manage to get out, get our exercise, and still manage to social distance ourselves while keeping everybody healthy.

Posted by S_mom
a resident of Community Center
on Mar 27, 2020 at 10:57 am

The neighborhood parks are not nearly as nice to be in with the grassy areas now off limits. Everyone has to stay on the paths which puts the likelihood of running into other people much higher. Reopen the lawns at small neighborhood parks!

Posted by Perpetual Motion Squirrel
a resident of Mayfield
on Mar 27, 2020 at 3:31 pm

Great! I wanted to see "They Promised Her the Moon". I was dissapointed when I heard that the play was canceled, but meanwhile, I understood that it must have been a difficult decision for them to make.

I am glad that TheatreWorks show us their resilience and creativity under this challenging circumstances. I will purchase the ticket to support them!

Posted by Mark Weiss
a resident of Downtown North
on Mar 27, 2020 at 10:51 pm

I ran an ad in the March 13 Weekly promoting a 9-part series of jazz, blues and folk concerts at Mitchell Park Community Center. I estimate there are 50 cds cumulatively that these artists have produced and can be bought on Amazon or sampled for free on YouTube.
I’ll try to cull the list down to a bakers dozen of the highest recommendations and report back on these pages.
Some of the shows will be rescheduled Lord willing and the creek don’t rise.

Posted by David
a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Mar 28, 2020 at 8:15 pm

The rule were changed since many people were disregarding gathers with little or no social distancing. Do not blame the city or other jurisdictions; blame yourselves. STAY AT HOME. Otherwise the lockdown and infection rate will skyrocket.

Posted by Mark Weiss
a resident of Downtown North
on Mar 29, 2020 at 9:46 pm

This is a follow-up to my comment three comments ago two nights ago:Web Link
Jeff Parker is a jazz guitarist and composer from Chicago and Los Angeles and Virginia who played in my series once at Mitchell Park with Dave Douglas in November once at Palo alto Art Center in March with Scott Amendola — yeah also appeared at the Stanford jazz workshop— And he has a co-led project out called Chicago underground Quartet.
Although on another level it is a time filler but we can’t replace live music

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